I've been reading 2000AD pretty much since it started (though I only really started to pay attention to it after the merger with Star Lord) and it's certainly had more than its fair share of ups and downs, but at the moment it seems to be enjoying a sustained period of fairly high quality. OK, we still have to endure largely incomprehensible strips like Shakara (which makes the mistake of not having a single character in evidence who we actually want to engage with most of the time and is as a result of this extremely dull) but recurring regulars Nikolai Dante, Strontium Dog, Sinister Dexter, the Red Seas, Savage, ABC Warriors and of course the ever present Dredd have all been pretty much essential reading in the last few years, and even comparative newcomer Kingdom has started to grow on me. The question is, how long can it keep up the standard? 2000ADs greatest strength-it's comparative believability-has always also been it's greatest weakness; characters often age in real time and stories seem finite. Dredd is now over fifty in the context of the stories, and Johnny alpha is at even more of a disadvantage given that he's actually dead; the current stories are flashbacks set before his already chronicled final end, meaning that there's surely only a limited amount of scope for his character.And Savage, thanks to Pat Mills' decision to tie 2000ADs various strips together in a coherent timeline, is rapidly approaching the point at which it will inevitably move away from its original premise into the future war of ABC Warriors. Is 2000AD painting itself into a corner?

Last edited by tony ingram on Fri Sep 23, 2011 1:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

I did read 2000AD for a couple of years with Strontium Dog bieng a big favourite! I left it when the `Halo Jones` and the Torquemeda stuff came in as I couldn't stomach either the art or stories! But I enjoyed it for a while!

alanultron5 wrote:I did read 2000AD for a couple of years with Strontium Dog bieng a big favourite! I left it when the `Halo Jones` and the Torquemeda stuff came in as I couldn't stomach either the art or stories! But I enjoyed it for a while!

Aha! Halo Jones, eh? You've never been a big fan of Mr Moore, have you Alan...?

2000AD is enjoyable enough for me to keep buying, but i can't stand all the "fashionably occult" stuff they're cramming in it. A while back they had The Red Seas (pirates with magick*), The "Magick deparment" in Judge Dredd, and some other strip about present-day "magick cops" or some such guff. I nearly gave up on it at that point, but the Origins storyline made up for it!

*-Apparently witchcraft magic is spelt incorrectly** as magick so as to differentiate it from the magic powers of the christian god... or some such crap. It's all far too idiotic to bear close examination.

felneymike wrote:2000AD is enjoyable enough for me to keep buying, but i can't stand all the "fashionably occult" stuff they're cramming in it. A while back they had The Red Seas (pirates with magick*), The "Magick deparment" in Judge Dredd, and some other strip about present-day "magick cops" or some such guff. I nearly gave up on it at that point, but the Origins storyline made up for it!

*-Apparently witchcraft magic is spelt incorrectly** as magick so as to differentiate it from the magic powers of the christian god... or some such crap. It's all far too idiotic to bear close examination.

**-See also: Wiccae, Faery, Childe, Womyn etc etc etc.

I always thought those words were spelt that way in order to make them look more authentically occult and therefore 'cooler', much as the so called occultists tend to adopt names which sound more in keeping with their chosen occupation. You never seem to meet a warlock called Gary. Either that, or they just can't spell. Aleister Crowley seemed to have trouble spelling even the simplest words.

Come to think of it, he couldn't even spell 'Alistair'.

I tend to agree with you about 2000ADs current obsession with magic, to an extent, but it's better than their 90s obsession with nonsense technobabble.

There's something about 2000 AD's strip that never gelled with me in weekly episodic format. Tried reading it as a child and a couple of times as an adult, couldn't take to it.

The higher pagination per strip means I've had phases with the Megazine, the last phase beginning a few years ago and still current. The 'graphic novel' supplements of the current incarnation help keep me going, though I would've preferred the Extreme Editions to continue.

Spiff_B wrote:There's something about 2000 AD's strip that never gelled with me in weekly episodic format. Tried reading it as a child and a couple of times as an adult, couldn't take to it.

The higher pagination per strip means I've had phases with the Megazine, the last phase beginning a few years ago and still current. The 'graphic novel' supplements of the current incarnation help keep me going, though I would've preferred the Extreme Editions to continue.

I've always preferred the episodic format myself, but you're far from alone in your feelings, I know (in the same way that many readers of the American comics have now stopped reading the monthly books because they prefer to wait for the inevitable trade paperback collection). I guess I just prefer the immediacy of the weekly. Incidentally, if you're open to recommendations of 2000AD material that are really worth reading, I'd point you in the direction of the collected edition of Skizz. One of the best strips of the title's early eighties golden age, in my opinion.

tony ingram wrote:I've always preferred the episodic format myself, but you're far from alone in your feelings, I know (in the same way that many readers of the American comics have now stopped reading the monthly books because they prefer to wait for the inevitable trade paperback collection). I guess I just prefer the immediacy of the weekly. Incidentally, if you're open to recommendations of 2000AD material that are really worth reading, I'd point you in the direction of the collected edition of Skizz. One of the best strips of the title's early eighties golden age, in my opinion.

I never had problems with the episodic stories in other comics (eg, Tiger, Eagle, Scream), which in some cases had only 2-3 pages per strip -- although more panels and denser narrative compared to many 2000 AD strips, which are more action-oriented.

Mind you, even if I had bought the weekly, I'd still be buying and reading the 'phone book' reprints as I am doing anyway!

I've read some Skizz years ago, can't even remember in what form. Might have a look for the collected edish on eBay.

I'd been thinking, there have been a few hundred characters paraded across 2000AD's pages in the last 33 years, but only a few seem to be regarded as really iconic and enduring. So who are the top ten? Thoughts? My personal choices would be:1) Judge Dredd (obviously, no explanation needed)2) Strontium Dog (arguably the second most popular character in the title's history)3) Rogue Trooper (the most popular creation of the mag's eighties golden era)4) Slaine (not a character who has ever really appealed to me, but he seems to have a large following)5) Robo-Hunter (abandoned a couple of times but keeps bouncing back in new incarnations)6) Nikolai Dante (undoubtedly the best of the title's new creations from the 90s) 7) Sinister Dexter (the other enduring series to come out of that otherwise uninspired decade) Nemesis (a massive hit in the early days, unfortunately dragged out rather too long)9) Ro-Jaws & Hammerstein (again, huge stars in the title's early years, though Ro-Jaws star has waned)10) ABC Warriors (the natural successors to the Ro-Busters crown, with Hammerstein obviously still the most popular)

Kingdom seems to be growing in popularity recently, i like how the barely-literate hero's adventures only explain a little of the backstory at a time. Mind you i hope they don't plonk down the whole back story in one lump one issue and then keep the story going without any mystery to it.

Stickleback is pretty good too, as is Ampney Crucis... they both suffer from "fashionable occultism" but i still like them, which says something!

felneymike wrote:Kingdom seems to be growing in popularity recently, i like how the barely-literate hero's adventures only explain a little of the backstory at a time. Mind you i hope they don't plonk down the whole back story in one lump one issue and then keep the story going without any mystery to it.

Stickleback is pretty good too, as is Ampney Crucis... they both suffer from "fashionable occultism" but i still like them, which says something!

I've never really been able to get to grips with the latter two, but the ongoing saga of Gene the Hackman is slowly growing on me. It took me an absurdly long time to work out the running joke with the Aux's names, and I still had to think about 'Old Man Gary'...

I loved a lot of the villains in the DREDD saga: ie: JUDGE CAL/ ANGEL GANG/ JUDGE DEATH/ JUDGE CHILD.......I have not read the comic for many years: any contemporary baddies up to this level of infamy?

MR X wrote:I loved a lot of the villains in the DREDD saga: ie: JUDGE CAL/ ANGEL GANG/ JUDGE DEATH/ JUDGE CHILD.......I have not read the comic for many years: any contemporary baddies up to this level of infamy?

I would have to nominate one of my favourite recurring Dredd villains, the Machiavellian PJ Maybe, originally introduced as a kind of twisted Adrian Mole but now very much a character in his own right. PJ is currently believed dead by Justice Dept, but has been scheming away behind the scenes for the last year or two in the guise of Mega City's new Mayor. A great character.

yes, I did see PJ Maybe once, during NECROPOLIS: then, he survived the onslaught on Mega-City, but still survived in a luxury fall-out shelter. I felt this character was slightly disturbing, but memorable in many ways.

MR X wrote:yes, I did see PJ Maybe once, during NECROPOLIS: then, he survived the onslaught on Mega-City, but still survived in a luxury fall-out shelter. I felt this character was slightly disturbing, but memorable in many ways.

How did this young character evolve, ------in a nutshell?

Philip Janet Maybe, a distant relative of the Yess family who made Justice Dept's trousers, first appeared in 1987 in the first in a series of stories which were an homage to Adrian Mole, the twist being that the apparently dyslexic 13 year old diarist was a serial killer. He murdered his way to ownership of the Yess family's company, but was eventually caught and institutionalised. He escaped during Necropolis and used a face change machine to assume the identity of a friend of the family, killing several more people along the way before being caught again. Seven years later, he eventually escaped, attempted to steal the identity of a billionaire, and eventually fled the city after faking his own death. He eventually returned to complete a childhood vendetta, killing 20, 000 people in the process, then fled again, stealing the identity of another billionaire. Most recently, he murdered the Mayor of Mega City one and took his place, though he has since begun murdering for fun again as a hobby.

The childhood vendetta story was told in the Meg back when it was good. I really liked that one...

A more recent Dredd story that i thought was great was Mandroid. It really rose above it's cheesy title.

Oh and the short-lived Stone Island strip was good too, the sequel wasn't so great though - and i think the monsters appeared too soon (would have been better to let tensions build over a few episodes i think - "there's a serial killer loose in the prison!" "oh, it's an alien")

Another recent story loads of people liked was Cradlegrave, but i didn't much. It was just chavs doing nothing for weeks, then some pretty grim stuff then a rubbish ending.

felneymike wrote:The childhood vendetta story was told in the Meg back when it was good. I really liked that one...

A more recent Dredd story that i thought was great was Mandroid. It really rose above it's cheesy title.

Oh and the short-lived Stone Island strip was good too, the sequel wasn't so great though - and i think the monsters appeared too soon (would have been better to let tensions build over a few episodes i think - "there's a serial killer loose in the prison!" "oh, it's an alien")

Another recent story loads of people liked was Cradlegrave, but i didn't much. It was just chavs doing nothing for weeks, then some pretty grim stuff then a rubbish ending.

An utterly baffling ending, I thought. It seemed to be building to something, then went nowhere.

Just caught up on several weeks worth of 2000AD in one sitting, and I'm delighted. Ro-Jaws is back! After all these years, the foul mouthed droid with the sewer fixation has finally returned to plague Hammerstein anew. Hopefully, this won't be just a fleeting return and then back to limbo.

I think that's just a spam robot doing a copy and paste job from Wiki to look relevant.

BUT i did get a couple of Extreme Editions, the Rogue Trooper one that was released when the videogame was coming out (with some Alan Moore stuff in it which i actually liked! He's far better in small quantities) and the Shako one... Shako was basically Hookjaw from Action only with a polar bear. It was also in "less shocking" black and white so they were able to get away with it.

MLP* wrote:Fancied some classic 2000AD so picked up the new Black Hawk The Intergalactic Gladiator collection. Not read this one before...

Oh, I used to love Black-Hawk! He was a refugee from the short lived Tornado comic, like his stablemate Wolfie Smith (another strip I'd really like to see reprinted). Sadly, we never did find out how Black-Hawk's quest ended...

MLP* wrote:Fancied some classic 2000AD so picked up the new Black Hawk The Intergalactic Gladiator collection. Not read this one before...

Oh, I used to love Black-Hawk! He was a refugee from the short lived Tornado comic, like his stablemate Wolfie Smith (another strip I'd really like to see reprinted). Sadly, we never did find out how Black-Hawk's quest ended...

Spoilers !

I've had a quick flick through. Some really nice artwork. Seems it's played pretty straight during the Tornado run and then goes batshit crazy once it moves to 2000ad.

Sorry, wasn't thinking! Yeah, Blackie's sudden transformation from former slave turned Centurion to spacehopping gladiator is a bit of a leap; apparently, back in 1980 they couldn't risk having a non SF based strip in the Galaxy's Greatest Comic. It was less of a problem for Wolfie of course, since he was an SF based character anyway. I guess Black-Hawk seemed an easier fit than Victor Drago or Johnny Lawless, which is a bit of a shame as both those characters deserved another chance, in my opinion...

tony ingram wrote:Sorry, wasn't thinking! Yeah, Blackie's sudden transformation from former slave turned Centurion to spacehopping gladiator is a bit of a leap; apparently, back in 1980 they couldn't risk having a non SF based strip in the Galaxy's Greatest Comic.

Yeah, 2000AD does seem to have become a looser anthology over the years, including fantasy and horror strips.Certainly Aquila in Prog 2012 doesn't look a million miles from Black Hawk.

Have to say, the Meg at the moment is tending to be a more satisfying read than the weekly, though I may feel differently once I've picked up the latest prog (haven't been into town since christmas). It's seemed to me to be treading water for awhile, though I'm glad to see Johnny Alpha back.

tony ingram wrote:Have to say, the Meg at the moment is tending to be a more satisfying read than the weekly, though I may feel differently once I've picked up the latest prog (haven't been into town since christmas). It's seemed to me to be treading water for awhile, though I'm glad to see Johnny Alpha back.

Looks like a decent line up in the Prog at the moment. Only Dante doesn't really appeal.I agree that Strontium Dog is the standout strip.

I like Dante, but I do think it's overexposed and the storyline seems to be dragging endlessly now. We've already had the Dmitri Romanov saga once; bringing him back was just rehashing old stories again. It's reminiscent of the endless returns of Baron Karza in Bill Mantlo's Micronauts series at Marvel thirty odd years ago. Sometimes, even the best bad guy just has to be let go.

Some rather sad news: it's been reported in the Ealing Gazette, and picked up by several comics sites, that 2000AD artist Brett Ewins has been hospitalized after suffering head injuries during an altercation with the police in Hanwell on Saturday, during the course of which a police officer was stabbed. Police had responded to reports of a man causing a disturbance, it seems, and found Brett carrying a knife. He has apparently had problems for some time following a breakdown several years ago. The police officer was released from hospital but Brett is said to be in a serious condition and the IPCC are investigating how he came to be injured.

tony ingram wrote:Some rather sad news: it's been reported in the Ealing Gazette, and picked up by several comics sites, that 2000AD artist Brett Ewins has been hospitalized after suffering head injuries during an altercation with the police in Hanwell on Saturday, during the course of which a police officer was stabbed. Police had responded to reports of a man causing a disturbance, it seems, and found Brett carrying a knife. He has apparently had problems for some time following a breakdown several years ago. The police officer was released from hospital but Brett is said to be in a serious condition and the IPCC are investigating how he came to be injured.

Difficult to judge the situation without knowing the full facts, but the spin the newspaper has put on it does not paint the arresting officers in a good light. I'm glad the injured officer is OK, but Brett's condition sounds more worrying.